Suggestions for a quick recovery?

[hansolo77]

I'm once again very sick.

2 weeks ago I was at work and got hit with a really sudden lack of energy out of nowhere. I developed a migraine and went home after my shift just barely making it to the bathroom for a vomit spell. Afterwards, I spent the whole night in the bathroom with diarrhea. Needless to say, I called off the next day, and yup, spent a good deal of the day either trying to sleep or in the bathroom having one of 2 things happening. The following days I dragged myself in to work and progressively felt better. Or so I thought. Now it looks like I relapsed, and it's a lot worse.

This passed Saturday (2/13/16) I once again got hit unexpectedly with the same 2 hit combo of massive migraine and total lack of energy. We're talking extreme fatigue. I was scheduled to work 2-8 that night, but thought it was 12-8 so I came in 2 hours early. When the dreaded headache and energy slam hit, I was given permission to leave early (working 12-6). Since I was 2 hours early, leaving 2 hours early didn't hurt anybody. I came home and literally crashed on my bed till about 3am. Slept through dinner, and the the polite phone call from work wanting to know if I was alright.

Sunday rolls around, and I've developed this ridiculous dry cough and sudden sore throat. My sinus's were dry though, so I didn't think it was innrelation to a post-sinu-sitis drip type illness I've been frequently diagnosed with. I spent the day unable to swallow, feeling very hot, body aches, and impassable scratchy throat/lung cough. Around 2pm I called work to see if they could get a replacement for me on Monday so I could go to the doctor. They guilt tripped me into coming into work anyway, saying how I bake the best pies and the best strudel bites and that there's nobody they can get to replace me. I tell them I think I might have strep throat. They don't believe me ("How can he know if he has Strep? Has he been to the doctor and been tested? No, he needs to be here.") This is the quote I hear from my department head in the background. So I zombify myself with NyQuil and Sucrets, and force myself into work. First look at me, and the boss is like "Aaron you look like shit". And I try to say "yeah but I had to come in", but all I get out is my lips moving - my voice has completely gone. So they tell me to just get done what I can, take it slow, and not worry about it. 4 hours go by and they tell me the truck is waiting on the dock for me and it's only 40 pieces. Well, I said I wanted somebody else to get it, because getting the truck means going on the back dock (which is currently experiencing a furnace failure and it's like 12f outside) and bringing up frozen cakes/etc and putting it in our freezer (which is currently experiencing a WORKING thermostat, with temps at -30f). They said I had to get it (the boss is pregnant and can't get it for herself). So I start to bring up the truck and about die putting it away. Half way through, the boss sees me and says "You look about ready to drop" and I tell her "I'm leaving after I get this put away". "But who's gonna watch the bakery after I leave?" "I don't care, it's not my problem. I have to go to the doctor".

So I leave, go to the Minute Clinic at Walgreens across the street (never done that before). They see me, take one look at my throat and say "oh yeah, he's got it." Didn't even have to take strep test. They instantly recognized it and diagnosed it. Gave me some pills to help with the coughing and a throat gargle to numb my throat. They also gave me a 48 hour work excuse, which now puts me next available to work on Thursday. I'm off on Thursday's so now I'm off until Friday.

That night, I was unable to sleep. My throat pain was increasing exponentially and spreading. The gargle can only get the top part of my throat where it connects to the nasal cavity, and the pain is significantly lower than that past the point of swallowing. It feels like I'm trying to swallow broken glass and razor blades. I convince the parents to take me to the ER at 8am (my primary care physician typically doesn't have available openings until at least 10). I go in, explain the history and provided remedies. They take a rapid strep test and report comes back negative. However, they're taking it to the lab to run a full culture test on it. I have my doubts. Meanwhile, they give me a liquid syringe with a steroid to help reduce the swelling in my throat and an Ibuprofen. They prescribe Musinex to clear out the dry (now starting to be slightly productive) cough, and tell me to continue with the gargle and to try gargling salt water too.

So I'm no where off better now than I was, but I'm feeling 300 times worse with the increased range of the soreness, and fatigues. I don't know what to do. I haven't heard back from the official lab test. I doubt they'll find anything as the last half dozen or so times they've done those tests they come back negative. But clearly this is something so obvious that the first doctor's were so very quick to diagnose it as such, but they don't prescribe anything for it. They feel it's a bacterial infection. The ER thinks it's a viral infection and recent studies with similar patients have the strand lasting up to 4 weeks. Regardless, neither set of Doctor's feels an antibiotic is appropriate, and simple over the counter remedies will suffice. Meanwhile, I feel like I'm choking on my spit every time I swallow, and I'm getting worse not better every hour.

So what do you guys think? Should I try to follow up with my regular doctor in a day or so, or just wait it out?

[tthurman]

I've had strep more than should be allowed, and it sucks. The fatigue thing though, geez, that's how I felt with pneumonia. IF you feel totally wiped out, no energy no matter how you try, and it gets progressively worse, then you're describing what I almost waited to long to go see the doc for. This almost landed me in the ER, go see your doc immediately.

Some will disagree, but I'm a big believer in chicken noodle soup to re-hydrate when feeling especially sickly. The fancy stuff probably is just as good, but the condensed; with half the water, almost seems magic to me when I feel like shit. A nice steamy shower seems to be a good nightcap as well.

I hope you feel better soon!

[the_greeze]

If you're feeling no better then definitely follow it up with your doctor; don't put it off. I hope you start feeling better soon.

Your employers sound like dicks btw.

[hansolo77]

Well, working in a grocery store bakery, you kinda have to be dependent on people. The worst part right now is that we're short staffed 4 full time people who left us in the last 3-4 weeks. 1 of them transferred to a closer to home store, one got a better paying job, one got fired for taking a 50 minute break after only working 20 minutes, and the other just quit because the boss posted on Facebook that maybe she should just call off too (the same day I called off a couple weeks ago somebody else called off because they couldn't get a babysitter.. so the boss was joking about how she should just call off too since it was the trend). That girl just quit because she didn't like that post and felt that if that is the way we're being treated when we have legitimate excuses, she doesn't want to work there.

So yeah, we're mostly just extremely short staffed and the store can't afford to have people missing work. We're still waiting for the hiring manager to replace the 4 people we've lost, and they'll be replaced with part-time people (nobody is hired full-time unless you're a transfer from another store). So when I'm SICK sick, it's a total slap to the face and there's nothing that can be done.

As of now, my throat is still sore, but I'm not at the "choking when swallowing" point I was at last night. I mean I was literally gagging because I couldn't swallow, and was just spitting out my mouth spit rather than swallowing it down like normal. I've started coughing stuff up and out of my chest but it hurts like hell. Sneezing also feels like like an erupting volcano in my throat. Still haven't heard anything from the ER in regards to the strep culture. Just taking it nice and easy, eating Chicken Ramen noodles.

[RIP-Felix]

Have you tried ice creme or ice water? If it's bacterial, the cold will slow its growth some and ease some of the swelling. Plus it's an excuse to eat Ice creme! Not that you will enjoy it much, what with the pain of swallowing and all.

[hansolo77]

Haven't been back to the site here in a couple days because of the illness. I still haven't heard back from the ER about the strep test. At this point I'm assuming it was negative and they're just not going to bother telling me. I've been to work now the last 2 days, and it's been a struggle to say the least. But I'm trying, and that's gotta count for something. My throat is feeling much better. I did a salt water gargle at the suggestion of the RNP from the ER and it seemed to help a lot. Cleared out of a lot of the gunk that was just sitting on the back of my throat not going anywhere. My coughing though has now gotten really severe, but I'm spitting stuff out so that's a plus. Now I'm having issues with pain/soreness from all the coughing. GRR. Also, my sinus's are starting to get clogged up now too. It's definitely been a roller coaster ride.

[Draco1962]

Saline nasal spray.

[stigzler]

Man, you write eloquently Hans, even when you're sick!

Maybe your body's telling you to be an author.

Get well soon, dude.

[hansolo77]

You really think so?  I look at my book-report-long story and think I just blab on about nothing.    That's a problem I have in the real world too, especially when I'm tired.  It's a defense mechanism or something, where my brain is running 100 miles a minute but the rest of my body is saying it's ready to give up and crash.  So I tend to go on an on about nothing.

 

I was off work yesterday (day off, not call off), and felt better than the day before.  However, I woke up around 11:20 last night due to an indigestion vomit attack.  I didn't throw up, but I could tell that's what woke me up.  Then I couldn't get back to sleep because I started having a coughing fit.  3 or 4 deep heavy coughs, then about 20 seconds would pass where I could breathe again, then another 3 or 4 crazy coughs.  It went on like that for an hour.  I kept getting this scratchy feeling in my chest even when I tried to hold my breath.  I took some cough suppressant syrup and sucked on a Halls cough drop, but still coughed every 20-30 seconds.  I don't know what happened, if I just passed out or what, but eventually I fell asleep and my alarm clock woke me up.  Went to work today, the bosses and co-workers said I still look like crap but that I sounded better.  My voice isn't as deep and "Darth Vadery" like it had been.  I still coughed here and there, but it's definitely feeling better now.